WARSAW – There wasn’t much separating Warsaw and Northridge on the volleyball court Tuesday night. Warsaw’s final two games needed extra play to get through it, but the Tigers came away with a 25-19, 18-25, 26-24, 28-26 win over the Raiders.

Neither team tried to be fancy when the chips were down, instead going to their bread and butter options. Warsaw tried to get Alexie Day and Nikki Parrett the ball to pound away and Northridge the same with its fireballer in Marci Miller.

Day and Parrett were both in the middle of the Warsaw scoring in the vital third game. Parrett’s two kills tied the score at 22 and 23, then a big smash by Day gave Warsaw a 25-24 edge. Kacy Bragg ended the third with a kill of her own, sending her southpaw swing into space for the clincher.

Neither team held a double-digit lead the entire night. Ridge led in game one 11-9, only for Warsaw to go on an 11-2 run to take a 20-13 lead. A Day kill with Warsaw up five put the Tigers in command at 24-18.

Miller was a monster for Ridge, getting chance after chance despite Warsaw’s efforts to double cover her at the net. Miller had a pair of big kills in the second game that put Northridge in control, and by the fourth game with Warsaw up 23-22, Miller’s No. 10 was called on each opportunity. Two Miller kills tied the fourth game at 25, but an attempt from the rangy senior to take the lead went wide, and Day closed out the win with a kill of her own.

“We talked about it tonight about trying to stop (Miller), and kept shifting girls over on her,” said Warsaw head coach Rick Ashmore. “Great players, you have to try to slow them down. See if someone else would hurt us.”

Day led Warsaw with 23 kills and two blocks to go with 10 digs and a pair of aces. Parrett wound up with 15 kills and three aces.

Kacy Bragg recorded 44 assists and four aces, and Erin Peugh had 16 digs and two assists.

Warsaw is now in the driver’s seat in the Northern Lakes Conference with a 3-0 mark, moving to 8-6 overall. Northridge slips to 7-7 overall and 0-2 in the NLC.

“We’re playing pretty well right now,” Ashmore said. “We’re ready to battle. Going on the road and the bus rides, we’re kind of battle tested. We played a number of teams that were ranked in the state. We’ve seen just about everything.”

The Warsaw JV defeated Northridge 25-18, 25-10 to move to 9-0 overall. Addie Dickerhoff had 12 assists and three aces, Cassadi Colbert had five kills and three digs and Amy Herendeen chipped in four digs and three aces.

The Warsaw freshmen started the night with a 25-14, 25-18 win over Ridge, pushing its record to 11-0. McKenna Hawblitzel led the club with five aces, five kills and 13 digs. Allie McGuire and Katie Prater added 13 digs apiece and Katie Schmidt chipped in 18 assists.

Warsaw plays Wednesday at East Noble.